Digital Commons Network^™

“If Our English Isn’T A Language, What Is It?” Indonesian Efl Student Teachers’ Challenges Speaking English, Mukhlash Abrar, Amirul Mukminin, Akhmad Habibi, Fadhil Asyrafi, Makmur Makmur, Lenny Marzulina

The Qualitative Report

Research on students’ skill speaking English in a non-English speaking country such as Indonesia is limited. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to document Indonesian EFL student teachers’ experiences in speaking English at one public university in Jambi, Indonesia. Data came from demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews obtained from eight participants. We organized our analysis and discussion around Indonesian EFL student teachers’ perspectives and the contexts in which experiences they encountered emerge. Our analysis of the text revealed overarching themes and sub-themes including (1) language barriers (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and fluency); (2) psychological factors (anxiety, attitude, and lack of …

Living, Doing, And Learning From Politics In A Youth Wing Of A Political Party, Carla Malafaia, Isabel Menezes, Tiago Neves

The Qualitative Report

The field of civic and political participation has been studied mostly from individual, psychological approaches rather than collective, relational perspectives. Here we address this gap through a political ethnography in the youth wing of a major Portuguese political party, conducted during the fervent months right before and after the Portuguese parliamentary elections of October 2015. Investigating the meaning-making of doing politics in real-life contexts, we assess the collective learning processes involved in political participation. This paper shows that youth wings can provide quality participation experiences. Indeed, collectively envisioning and constructing a more democratic society and working for the public good …

Friends Or Strangers? A Feasibility Study Of An Innovative Focus Group Methodology, Chandria D. Jones, Jocelyn Newsome, Kerry Levin, Amanda Wilmot, Jennifer Anderson Mcnulty, Teresa Kline

The Qualitative Report

Focus groups are useful tools for examining perceptions, feelings, and suggestions about topics, products, or issues. Typically, focus groups are held in formal facilities with “strangers” or participants who do not know each other. Recent work suggests that “friendship groups” may provide an innovative alternative for collecting group-level qualitative data. This approach involves recruiting a single “source participant” who hosts a group in his/her home and recruits friends possessing the characteristics desired for the study. In order to examine the feasibility of friendship groups as a defensible research methodology, we conducted a series of four friendship groups as a feasibility …

Imprint Of Racism: A Phenomenological Study On White Adult Males' Exposure To Racial Antipathy, Historical Stereotypes, And Polarization Towards African Americans And Their Transformational Journey Towards Racial Reconciliation, Wynona Yvonne James

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Since the election of the first African American president in 2008, race relations have deteriorated in the United States. In May 2017, the emergence of the “alt-right” movement advocating for white nationalism caused further polarization between the races. This transcendental phenomenological research examined how white adult males’ exposure to racist ideologies influenced their perceptions towards African Americans, and how they emancipated from environments that promoted racist tenets. The study was guided by three research questions: How have white males been impacted by their exposure to racial antipathy and discrimination? What events or circumstances have white males experienced that led them …

Suspicion, Suspicion: Police Perceptions Of Juveniles As The “Symbolic Assailant”, Andrea R. Coleman

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Jerome Skolnick’s (2011) "symbolic assailant" is a result of police attributing particular demeanor, gestures, language, and a style of dress to people they believed were most likely to commit violent crimes. The challenge became when police applied these characteristics to specific groups such as juveniles. Literature published before and after Skolnick (2011) indicated police were more likely to stop, arrest, interrogate, or surveille juveniles based on their demeanor, gestures, style of dress, lack of respect, deference to authority, the severity, and remorse for their offenses in addition to race. However, current research indicated race, gender, and Socioeconomic Status (SES) determined …

Millennial Generation Law Enforcement Academy Recruits And Their Perception Of Mental Health, Jeffrey M. Mcgill

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

The traumatic and cumulative stresses associated with a law enforcement career are well documented both empirically and anecdotally. While previous generations have acknowledged and coped with these stressors with varying levels of success, research shows that the millennial generation has reported more mental health issues than any generation in history. Since suicide is the single leading cause of death for United States law enforcement officers in recent years, addressing mental health should be a priority of all agencies. The introduction of millennial generation law enforcement officers creates the potential for increased mental health needs within the field. 25 millennial-aged Florida …

An Exploratory Study Of Selected Policy Diffusions In Judicial Settings, Renee Ann Pistone

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Canon and Baum’s (1981) pioneering study examined diffusion of 23 plaintiff-oriented tort doctrines among the state court systems in 1876-1975 provided an early model to study judicial innovation. Meanwhile, Berry and Berry’s (1990) later model featured event history analysis (EHA) that was relevant for this dissertation which sought to explain political behavior. This dissertation used archival data only and was a quantitative research design that was descriptive and exploratory of the judicial policy adoption process. The researcher used quantitative archival data and described what sociological, political, and criminological factors had impacted policy adoptions over time and explored the possible associations …

Gun-Free Zones: A Geographical Opinion Study On Attitudes Toward Gun-Free Zones And The Safety Impact On Residents, Sean Grier

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Gun violence is a pandemic problem in the United States, resulting in over two thirds of all homicides each year. Consequently, gun related policies have been fiercely debated within the political spectrum, with the 20th century seeing a dramatic increase in gun control legislation. Gun-free zones are designated areas that strictly prohibit all private citizens from carrying a firearm, even those with concealed weapon permits. The statistics indicate that numerous instances of gun related mass shootings have occurred within the confines of these gun-free zones (schools, movie theatres, government installations, etc.). However, little research exists to understand whether citizens actually …

Brother’S Keeper: Self-Discovery, Social Support, And Rehabilitation Through In-Prison Peer Mentorship, Rebekah Zwick

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Correctional practices in New York State largely support a punishment paradigm, a framework in which men and women are incarcerated to suffer punition, with little consideration given to understanding the causes of criminality or means to rehabilitate the offender. The growing awareness of correctional failures have necessitated efforts to re-evaluate the justice system, with no consensus regarding which rehabilitative methods work. Correctional philosophy and practice provides few substantive opportunities for transformative rehabilitation; therapeutic peer programming to address deficiencies in pro-normative socialization and provide peer support are virtually nonexistent.

For many formerly incarcerated men who build successful lives for themselves within …

From School To Prison: Assessing The Impact Of Non-Systemic Contributors To The School-To-Prison Pipeline, Jonathan W. Glenn

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

The school-to-prison pipeline is an expansive issue that impacts the educational and criminal justice systems in the United States. Traditionally, the research has linked the prevalence of the pipeline to factors based within school systems. These systemic factors include the use of zero tolerance policies, exclusionary disciplinary practices, and the presence of school resource officers. The proposed study aims to assess the impact of factors that perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline that are non-systemic in nature.

For the purposes of this study, the non-systemic contributors to the school-to-prison pipeline to be assessed are parental socialization, child self-control, learned noncompliance, child resilience, …

Blacks In Policing And Organizational Change: A Comparison Of Departments’ Participation In Community Oriented Policing Activities, David Pernell Taylor

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Civil unrest in the1960s pitted Black citizens and police officers against each other (Kerner Commission, 1968). The Kerner Commission examined race relations and recommended the hiring of more Black officers to patrol Black neighborhoods. Recent shooting deaths of unarmed Black males primarily by White officers has led to renewed calls for police reform (Scholsser, Cha-Jua, Valgoi & Neville, 2015). This quantitative secondary analysis study utilizes data from the 2013 LEMAS survey to compare local police departments from three states (N=184) to examine whether police departments with a Black chief and/or a higher rate of Black officers reported more participation in …

Parents Of War: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Experience Of Parenting Through The War Experience, Margaret Wilkie

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on experiences of refugee parents who have experienced war and displacement. There is a lack of academic research in the area of parenting and war, and this study hopes to begin to fill that gap. Research that is based on personal experiences is the ultimate guide to forming policy and programs that meet real needs. This study employed Grounded Theory methodology and in-depth interviewing to explore the questions of how parents manage to meet their own needs, the needs of their children, and overall cope with the experiences of war and displacement. Through intense analysis of interviews …

Countering Violent Extremism In Peshawar Pakistan, Licona Bryan

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Spikes of militancy, intolerance, ethnic division and sectarianism have all risen within Pakistan in recent years, yet Pakistan’s continuous battle to deter violent extremism fails to be successful. Following the December 16, 2014 Army Public School (APS) massacre in Peshawar Pakistan little empirical attention has been paid on how the Pakistani government, in the Northwest region of Pakistan, is countering violent extremism (CVE). As well as, its link to policy-making decisions on CVE. This dissertation study sought to analyze the currently active CVE narrative that Pakistan implemented into its Constitution in 2014. This qualitative explanatory case study project focused on …

A Phenomenological Research Study On The Treatment Experience Of Opioid Addicts: Exploring The Intrapersonal And Interpersonal Conflicts That Opioid Addicts Face During The Treatment Process, Nicole Marie Ouzounian

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

Opioid addiction is a physical, mental, and social issue. The insidious habits and behaviors acquired while living an addictive lifestyle are more powerful than human comprehension, and the training required to release these strongholds are extreme to say the least. Capturing the lived experiences of this process is needed to increase understanding of the development that leads to transformation from active addict to addict in recovery. This phenomenological research study on the treatment experience of opioid addicts used a qualitative approach to gain understanding of this phenomenon. For this study, 15 research participants were selected. Their ages ranged from 21 …

Problematic Autoethnographic Research: Researcher’S Failure In Positioning, Ji Young Shim

The Qualitative Report

This article problematizes and discusses the “auto”ethnographical approach, which has recently become pervasive in research-oriented writings, to “tell the story of self and subject” in order to analyze wider cultural and social conditions. This method can be found in the remarkable array of a variety of disciplines in which scholars have explicitly and implicitly highlighted identity-related issues. One problem with this approach is its failure to recognize the ideological generalization in identifying the researcher’s position, with the risk of eventually becoming a neutral “truth through the researcher’s reality.” This paper focuses on the crisis between history and memory in contextualizing …

Exploring Relational Ethics And Care: A Longitudinal Study Of A Hong Kong Cellist's Marriage Disintegration And Identity Change, Annabella S K Fung Ms

The Qualitative Report

I am a survivor of divorce. When I visited Hong Kong, a mutual friend introduced me to a cellist going through a divorce as a participant for my research which investigates music learning and identity of Chinese musicians. My research took a different path because I decided to explore how she constructed meaning through divorce, leading to her identity change. I referred her to counselling and supported her through regular messaging. Research is more than just data collection; the wounded-healer standing by the wounded is therapeutic for both of us. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this study reports our conversations, …

Applying A Total Quality Framework To Qualitative Research Design: A Review, Paula Boros

The Qualitative Report

In Applied Qualitative Research Design: A Total Quality Framework Approach, Margaret R. Roller and Paul J. Lavrakas present their Total Quality Framework (TQF) designed to help researchers understand qualitative research is required to be creditable, analyzable, transparent, and useful. The authors show how qualitative researchers can utilize these four TQR fundamental elements to identify strengths and limitations of their qualitative methods and design process.

A Holistic Teaching Approach For Your Qualitative Research Class: A Book Review, Lilian L. Latulippe

The Qualitative Report

A book review on Teaching Qualitative Research: Strategies for engaging emerging scholars, written by Raji Swaminathan and Thalia M. Mulvihill, published in 2018. This review offers an overall look into an instructor’s book by highlighting its unique features for teaching qualitative research in the social sciences. The review presents the main intent of the book, which is the authors’ holistic pedagogical approach for teaching qualitative inquiry. Swaminathan and Mulvihill offer readers a melding of qualitative pedagogy and holistic pedagogy, a clear strength of this book. The review concludes by sharing potential readership, as well as, possible applications.

Factors Contributing To Juvenile Crime Leading To The Disparity Of The Risk Levels For Secure Detainment, Dawn Prystajko

Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this research was to explore the factors that contributed to juvenile crime which in turn caused disparity in secure detainment among juveniles. This was based upon the alternate hypothesis that there is a noticeable disparity with minority youths being more securely detained opposed to majority youths. Therefore, the research was designed to examine raw data obtained from the Juvenile Justice Services Planner/JDAI Coordinator of the excel database of juvenile arrests/detainment.

The findings revealed several key points. The finding revealed that useable data extracted from the excel database was not able to neither agree with nor support …